Investment and wage increases, the main highlights in Romanian PM’s six-month report

Romanian prime minister Viorica Dancila presented

on Monday, July 23,

a report of her cabinet’s first six months in office, boasting with higher public and foreign investments, higher salaries and higher pensions. Dancila responded to criticism about declining investments saying that the state’s investment budget increased by 50% compared to the first six months of last year, to RON 9.1 billion (almost EUR 2 billion). She also said that the growth in foreign investments showed that investors haven’t been impressed by the fake and alarming news launched by the government’s critics. The PM said that foreign direct investment reached EUR 2.21 billion in the first six months of this year, up from EUR 1.93 billion in H1 2017 and EUR 1.33 billion in H1 2016, adding that the investors weren’t scarred by the minimum wage increase. Romania also managed to absorb more EU funds in the first half, according to Dancila, namely EUR 6.8 billion, compared to EUR 6.5 billion in H1 2017 and EUR 0.68 billion in H1 2016. Wage increases for doctors in the public sector and teachers and pension increases were also among the prime minister’s highlights. Viorica Dancila explained that these increases were supported by a 12% growth in budget revenues in the first half, to RON 132 billion (EUR 28.4 billion). The whole report had almost 50 power point slides. A video recording of the presentation can be watched here. editor@romania-insider.com